The Town of Canaan 2011 Assessment Roll is available online by clicking HERE

To VIEW 2012 Canaan tax bills and payment status online, please click HERE


A message from the Town Board!

July 2011

Fellow Canaan Residents:

As Town Board members we have continued to make improvements to Canaan’s infrastructure while using less of your tax dollars each year. Despite reductions in our transfer station fees, mortgage tax revenues and building permit fees due to real estate conditions, the Board reduced the Town of Canaan tax levy by another 2.9% in 2011. In three years the Board has reduced Town taxes by 22.1%. While taxes have been reduced the Town has continued to contribute to capital reserves; purchase new equipment; improve our Town Hall, Stoddard Field and roads; and finally set aside the necessary funds to build our sand/salt storage facility. We have achieved this by making improvements which save money and by reducing expenses, particularly costly legal fees.

The purpose of this letter is to update you on what has happened and what we anticipate for the remainder of 2011.

2011 Budget is online

Town Hall & Library

New light fixtures have been installed at the doors of the Town Hall. The lantern fixtures are more attractive and photo sensitive, switching on and off automatically at dusk and dawn to save electricity. Our obsolete emergency lights inside the building have been replaced with new more efficient models. Continued improvements to the Town Hall’s water system have been made including better filtering and a new hot water heater. A new lighted fan with speed control was installed in our Library and we added wireless DSL internet service. The wireless service is password protected and users will be required to present identification in exchange for the password. A new computer was installed at the Library and an updated selection of children’s books is now available complements of the Chatham Public Library. A new book drop box will be installed in front of the Library, purchased primarily with a grant recently secured from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation thanks to the Chatham Public Library.

Stoddard Field

We have requested an inspection of the Town pond by the regional DEC biologist in order to receive a permit to remove the cattails along the edges and introduce triploid grass Carp to reduce the vegetation in the pond. These Carp cannot reproduce and therefore do not have any long term impact on other indigenous species in the pond.

On a disappointing note, Stoddard Field has recently experienced vandalism and damage costing the Town money in repairs. Town park vandalism is not a situation unique to Canaan. Unfortunately incidents are occurring in our park at a greater frequency. We are working with local law enforcement officials and our Recreation Commission to increase security measures at Stoddard Field. We are also optimistic that these incidents will cease so we can continue to improve our park for everyone’s enjoyment.

Highway

The new heating system installed at the Highway garage has already saved a few thousand dollars in annual fuel costs. The Highway Department completed another major culvert replacement on Peaceful Valley Road last year, the last in Canaan for the magnitude of its cost for quite some time. The Highway Department also traded in its aging small excavator and large front loader purchasing new more efficient models for less money than originally budgeted.

2011 Assessment Roll

Our property revaluation by Municipal Assessment Services (MAS) was completed in 2010 with assessed property values equaling 100% of their market value. Our 2011 assessment roll continues at 100% of market value and has already been submitted to the County for its July 1st effective date. All exemptions, STAR, seniors, veterans and agricultural will continue to receive 100% of their value because our assessments remain at 100% of market value. The Town’s Board of Assessment Review (BAR) received 36 grievances this year - only 2.5% of all 1488 parcels - 16 were denied and 20 were granted partial or full requested relief. The Town also received a rebate from the State of $5,811 for last year’s full revaluation.

Your individual assessment level determines your proportion of property taxes relative to the assessment levels of other property owners, which may increase or decrease more than your assessment. Ultimately, the changes in school, county, town, fire and ambulance tax rates based on their budgets may have more of an impact on your property taxes than a change in your assessment. The purpose of a property revaluation is to determine, using the best practices available determined by NYS Real Property Law, the relative value of all properties within a community so we all pay our appropriate share of those taxes based on property value and receive the full value of eligible exemptions.

Ambulance Service

On January 1, 2011 both Canaan Districts and New Lebanon began receiving ambulance service from Chatham Rescue Squad (CRS). CRS provides Advanced Life Support (ALS) – the highest grade of ambulance service available which includes a paramedic on each ambulance. Their Canaan/New Lebanon ambulance is stationed in Canaan on State Route 295 just west of State Route 22. CRS has multiple ambulances serving its district. You may see one of their ambulances parked in the Village of East Chatham at times. To reduce response time CRS tactically moves their ambulances east and west along State Routes 295 and 66 to cover for an ambulance that has responded to a 911 call. In other words, if their Canaan ambulance responds to a call in Canaan or New Lebanon they will shift one of their ambulances in Chatham east to the Village of East Chatham as a backup.

Employee Healthcare Insurance

The costs of providing healthcare insurance have risen astronomically in the last few years. The Town’s current healthcare insurance policy for its employees was set to increase over 15% or $11,000 on June 1st. To avoid this increase we began researching alternative policies and methods of funding our employee healthcare months before our renewal date. We finally chose a policy which allows the Town to ‘self-insure’ an initial portion of the healthcare costs for our employees by funding a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA); therefore significantly reducing the annual insurance premiums paid to the healthcare provider. This change resulted in only a 1.5% increase to the Town’s healthcare costs and also significantly reduced the out-of-pocket co-pay costs for our employees.

Independent Audit

The New York State Controllers Office chose not to audit the Town last year, but recommended the Town still perform an independent audit. The Town will soon begin this independent audit of our financial processes with the audit firm of Pattison Koskey Howe & Bucci.

Sand-Salt Storage Facility

In 2006 Canaan residents voted via a Town Referendum to reserve $250,000 to construct a Sand-Salt Storage Facility. The referendum stated that the total cost of such a facility could not exceed $600,000. After setting aside the $250,000 reserve, the Town Board voted to budget an additional $300,000 in 2011 to complete the project.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) had been encouraging the Town to reserve money and complete this project for the past twenty years because of the sand-salt piles proximity to nearby wetlands. In May 2010 the Town received a letter from DEC where they emphasized that given the Town will finally provide the funds for the project, not building a facility would be “inexcusable”.

Over an eighteen month period the Town Board and our contracted engineer reviewed different manufactured storage options which would hold 4,000 tons of sand-salt material - the approximate amount needed for our roads during a normal winter. Three public hearings were held. The Town then went though a bidding process receiving five bids for various types of structures including wood-based and galvanized metal frames with fabric covers.

The Town Board decided to decline the initial bids and refine the bid specifications to include only wood-based buildings. The reasons for this were that wood structures were comparably priced relative to galvanized steel and fabric structures, they were more durable under snow weight for our region, more easily maintained in the future by local contractors and had a much more aesthetic appeal to residents. We also refined our bid criteria to delegate site preparation and floor paving to our Highway Department and local contractors. Four of the original five bidders resubmitted bids. The two lowest bidders were interviewed and in March the Town Board made its selection.

The Town Board selected Noble Craft Construction, Inc. located in Katonah, NY as general contractor to oversee construction of the foundation and the wooden building because of their prior experience constructing sand/salt shed facilities, their selection of building manufacturer, the quality of the materials and their warranties. The building will be 110 feet long, 60 feet wide and 35 feet tall at its peak. The concrete foundation will be 10 inches wide and 14 feet high, four of those feet below ground level. The building itself will have a treated wood beam support structure – wooden sides – and an asphalt shingled roof guaranteed for thirty years. The color of the roof shingles and the staining of the wood siding - still to be determined - will blend into our rural environment. An asphalt floor will be poured after construction. The contractor has guaranteed the building and foundation for five years. The structure will also be insured by our insurance company.

Supervision of construction will be done by the Town’s contracted engineer and our building inspector. The Town Board will monitor all financial aspects of the project. The general contractor has provided payment and performance bonds, liability and NYS Workman’s Compensation insurance. Monthly payments will be made to an administrator for the insurance company providing the payment and performance bonds to insure the Town is satisfied with the progress of construction before payments are made directly to the general contractor.

The Highway Department has already prepared the site for construction. The general contractor will begin the foundation the week of July 11th with final completion of the building scheduled no later than the first week in October, which will allow us to use it this winter season. The Town Board’s current estimate is that total out-of-pocket costs to the Town for this project should not exceed $490,000 and alleviate any future financial risks from environmental issues.

On a final note, completion of this building will allow the Town to embark on a beautification program over the next few years - painting the existing buildings the same color - grading, seeding and planting the surrounding area – and erecting a new Highway Department sign.
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• Included in this letter is a summary of Canaan’s 2011 Budget. The intent is to show you how much our Town spends or reserves, and where our revenues come from. It also gives you a comparative view of how much we pay in various property taxes. Also included in this letter is a one page reference guide to Town officials. If you know of anyone who does not receive a copy of this letter, there are additional copies at Town Hall.

• As a reminder to our residents who own dogs, please make sure they have a rabies vaccination and are licensed at Town Hall for both you and your dog’s safety. Cats that have access to the outdoors should also have a rabies vaccination.

• We would also like to remind residents using open vehicles to transport garbage to the Transfer Station that State law requires materials be secured or covered so they do not leave the vehicle during transport. Please take the extra time to secure materials so they do not end up on our roads.

• The Town of Canaan Summer Youth Recreation Program begins July 5th and ends August 12th, Monday-Friday. Sign up at Adams Point Beach 9am-12m and Stoddard Field 1pm-4pm – bring a copy of your immunization record. As an addition to this year’s program the Canaan Library is participating in the New York State Summer Reading Program which will take place each Friday at 1:30pm from July 8th through August 12th. Lindsay Meyers a reading specialist in the Ichabod Crane School District will direct the program.

• Adams Point Beach hours are Monday-Thursday 12pm to 6pm, Friday 12pm to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 7pm and Sunday 10am to 6pm. Please contact the Town Hall for information on summer membership and daily beach pass costs.

• 2011 Transfer Station stickers are available at Town Hall. You must own or rent a physical residence in Canaan to obtain a sticker. One sticker per residence.

The Board wishes to extend our thanks to our resourceful, knowledgeable and professional Highway Department, our clerks and all our volunteers on various boards and committees for their generous and invaluable assistance to Town officials and the community.

Thanks and have a great summer!


Rick Keaveney Brenda Adams Carrie Bither David Patzwahl Peter Stelling

Questions? Suggestions? Use Contact the Town.

News:
2011 Budget is online

Town Hall:
The Canaan Town Hall is located on County Route 5, just south of the intersection with NY State Route 295. Our physical address is: 1647 County Route 5, Canaan NY The mailing address is PO Box 459, Canaan, NY 12029.

Our physical address is: 1647 County Route 5, just off NY Route 295
The Canaan Town Clerk's hours are:

Monday & Wednesday & Thursday & Friday from 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM
Thursday 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

The Clerk's office can be reached at (518)781-3144, ext. 1. If you have a question about the town, the Clerk probably has the answer! So give her a call or feel free to stop by.